Method for exchanging content between communication devices

ABSTRACT

A system ( 100 ) and method ( 300 ) are disclosed for exchanging content between communication devices. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device ( 200 ) having a transceiver ( 202 ) for exchanging messages with alternate communication devices ( 104 - 112 ), and a controller ( 214 ) for managing operations of the transceiver. The controller is programmed to scan ( 302 ) for an alternate communication device, detect ( 302, 304 ) the alternate communication device, request ( 306 ) from the alternate communication device a log of subscribed content acquired by the alternate communication device from an alternate source, identify ( 312 ) a desirable portion of the subscribed content, transmit ( 316 ) to the alternate communication device a peer-to-peer request for the desirable portion of the subscribed content according to one or more available subscriptions, and receive ( 320 ) from the alternate communication device the desired portion of the subscribed content. Additional embodiments are also disclosed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to content management, and morespecifically to a method for exchanging content between communicationdevices.

BACKGROUND

Cellular communications, among other wireless technologies such asBluetooth™, WiFi, and WiMax, has made it possible to receive contentsuch as news reports, music, wallpaper, ring tones, and video over theair. These technologies, however, are susceptible to common interferenceissues. For example, a cellular phone may have poor reception or noreception at all when an end user parks in an underground facility, orwhen roaming in a dense building. Communication devices utilizingshort-range communications technologies such as Bluetooth™, and WiFi,can be out of range from a wireless access point that providesaccessibility to the communication system.

Under these circumstances, an attempt by an end user to retrieve desiredcontent is not possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a plurality of communication devicesinteracting with a communication system and each other according toteachings of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of common technologies that can be utilized inthe communication devices of FIG. 1 according to teachings of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method operating in each of thecommunication devices according to teachings of the present disclosure;and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure provide a methodfor exchanging content between communication devices.

In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication devicehas a transceiver for exchanging messages with alternate communicationdevices, and a controller for managing operations of the transceiver.The controller is programmed to scan for an alternate communicationdevice, detect the alternate communication device, request from thealternate communication device a log of subscribed content acquired bythe alternate communication device from an alternate source, identify adesirable portion of the subscribed content, transmit to the alternatecommunication device a peer-to-peer request for the desirable portion ofthe subscribed content according to one or more available subscriptions,and receive from the alternate communication device the desired portionof the subscribed content.

In a second embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readablestorage medium operates in a first communication device. The firstcommunication device has computer instructions for detecting a secondcommunication device with subscribed content acquired from an alternatesource, transmitting to the second communication device a peer-to-peerrequest for a portion of the subscribed content according to one or moresubscriptions of the first communication device, and receiving from thesecond communication device the portion of the subscribed content.

In a third embodiment of the present disclosure, a method operates in acommunication device. The method has the steps of scanning for alternatedevices with subscribed content acquired from an alternate source,detecting an alternate device, identifying a portion of subscribedcontent in the alternate device, submitting a request for the portion ofsubscribed content with an associated one or more subscriptions, andreceiving the portion of the subscribed content from the alternatedevice.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a plurality of communication devices104-112 interacting with a communication system 102 and each otheraccording to teachings of the present disclosure. The communicationsystem 102 provides wired and wireless services including, but notlimited to, multimedia content services, POTS (Plain Old TelephoneService), VoIP (Voice over Internet communications, IPTV (InternetProtocol Television), broadband communication services, and cellularservices. The access technologies of the communication system 102include wired telephony, and a wide range of wireless technologies suchas cellular telephony, WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth™, infra-red, and otherknown or future wired and wireless access technologies.

Multimedia content services can include downloadable content such asmusic, games, ring tones, video, news reports, magazines, books,software, and any other downloadable content. The downloadable contentcan include in part subscribed content with security appended thereon(such as digital rights management—DRM—to protect copyrighted content).The downloadable content can be free of charge once a user is subscribedto a corresponding service, or the user can be charged a periodic fee(e.g., monthly subscription fee) or can be charged according to thecontent item downloaded. Alternatively, or in addition to, thedownloadable content can include unsubscribed content that is availableto the public free of charge in most instances without DRM protection.

Each of the communication devices 104-112 can download content from themultimedia services supported by the communication system 102 accordingto any one of the aforementioned access technologies. In some use cases,the communication devices can be represented by a single mode devicethat supports a short range wireless access technology such as WiFi,WiMax, or Bluetooth™, or a wired access technology such as Ethernet, orPOTS using a common modem. In other use cases, the communication devicescan be represented by a multimode communication device capable of, forexample, cellular telephony and WiFi, or a hybrid wired and wirelessaccess technology such as Ethernet and WiFi, respectively.

A communication device can be represented by a personal digitalassistant (PDA) 104 (such as a Blackberry™, or an iPOD™), a cell phone106, a laptop computer 108, a telematics system 110 of an automobile(supporting video, radio broadcasts, and navigation services, just tomention a few), and a gaming device 112 such as a GameBoy™, or othersuitable device for playing 2D or 3D games. Each of these devices has atleast one access technology for communicating with the communicationsystem 102 and/or each other. Although connectivity between thecommunication devices 104-112 can be accomplished with an infraredtechnology or direct tethering with an accessory cable, or dockingdevice, for the present illustration, all devices are assumed to supportat least a WiFi access technology. The laptop computer 108, in thisillustration will support wired Ethernet along with WiFi. All othercommunication devices will utilize WiFi exclusively (e.g., thetelematics system 110) and/or cellular telephony.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of common technologies that can be utilized inthe communication devices 104-112 (collectively identified as reference200) of FIG. 1 according to teachings of the present disclosure. Acommunication device 200 can include a transceiver 202 and a controller214 for managing operations thereof. The transceiver 202 can utilizecommon technology to support any of the wired or wireless accesstechnologies described above for the communication system 102. Thecontroller 214 can be represented by a microprocessor and/or a digitalsignal processor with associated storage devices such as Flash memory,RAM, ROM, DRAM, a hard disk, or other suitable storage media.

In a supplemental embodiment, the communication device 200 can furtherinclude a user interface (UI) 204, and a portable power supply 212. TheUI 204 can include a keypad 206 with navigation for manipulatingoperations of the communication device 200 and for navigating throughimages conveyed by a common display 210 such as an LCD (Liquid CrystalDisplay). The UI 204 can further include an audio system 208 forintercepting and conveying audio messages to an end user of thecommunication device 200. The power supply 212 can utilize commontechnology such as rechargeable batteries with a charger for supplyenergy to the components of the communication device 200, and forrecharging said batteries after they have expired.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method 300 operating in each of thecommunication devices 104-112 according to teachings of the presentdisclosure. Method 300 begins with step 301 where the controller 214 ofthe communication device 200 checks whether an alternate content sourcesuch as the communication system 102 is out of range. If thecommunication system 102 is within range, the controller 214 retrievesdesired subscribed and unsubscribed content therefrom according tocommon means. If, however, the communication system 102 is out of range,the controller 214 can be programmed to cause in step 302 thetransceiver 202 to scan for alternate communication devices (such asdevices 104-112 shown in FIG. 1). As noted earlier, the transceiver 202can perform this task over a physical medium (such as a cable tetheredbetween communication devices 200) or by wireless means such asBluethooth™, infrared, or WiFi. For convenience, the communicationdevices 200 are assumed to have at least WiFi capability.

If an alternate communication device is detected in step 304 (e.g., thePDA 104 and the telematics system 110 detect each other), the controller214 proceeds to step 306 where it requests a log of the subscribed andunsubscribed content of the alternate device. If no alternate devicesare detected, the controller 214 proceeds to step 301 to checkavailability of the communication system 102. This and the subsequentsteps of method 300 can be shared by both devices. That is, the PDA 104and the telematics system 110 can be submitting this request to eachother in order to survey each other's content. It should also be notedthat the subscribed and unsubscribed content in the alternate device isassumed in the present illustration to have been acquired from analternate source such as the communication system 102 rather than one ofthe peer devices (104-112) shown in FIG. 1. In step 308, the controller214 receives the logs, and begins to compare the logs in step 310 to itsown logs. The controller 214 can identify in step 312 desirable contentaccording to the comparison of the logs and one or more preferencesestablished by an end user of the communication device 200.

The preferences can be established by the end user by way of, forexample, UI settings embedded in a menu selected by the end user withthe keypad. Alternatively, the preferences can be programmed by way of acomputer tethered to the communication device 200 operated on withcommon provisioning software that generally comes with the purchase ofthe device. For more sophisticated communication devices 200, thepreferences can be programmed over-the-air (e.g., with an SMS—shortmessage system) after they have been entered at a website managed by,for example, a content provider and/or the manufacturer of thecommunication device 200.

The preferences can be defined according to, for example, one or morecontent types, and one or more content preferences (e.g., a preferencefor music over news clips). The newness of the content, and the storageand processing capacity of the communication device 200 can also play arole. For example, if a news clip is more than a day old, the end usermay not be interested in requesting for such content. On the other hand,if the content is music, time may not be a factor to the end user. Thestorage capacity of the communication device 200 may be low, in whichcase music files can, for example, take priority over news files, unlessthere is not enough space for music in which case the next prioritycontent is considered. Similarly, if the processing capacity of thecommunication device 200 is such that it cannot process video, but itcan process other multimedia files, video is excluded fromconsideration. Additionally, the end user can define a preference fordisallowing file transfers that take too long (e.g., more than 15seconds).

It would be apparent to an artisan with ordinary skill in the art thatthere are innumerable possibilities for establishing preferences fordesirable content within the scope of operation of the presentdisclosure. These undisclosed embodiments can best be understood by thedescription of the claims noted below.

Once desirable content has been identified in step 312, the controller214 proceeds to step 314 where it compares the subscriptionscorresponding to the subscribed content of the alternate device with itsown subscriptions. The subscriptions of the subscribed content of thealternate device can be embedded, for example, in the logs (e.g.,National Public Radio (NPR) news articles, Sports Illustrated newsarticles, Nintendo software applications, and so on). In step 316, thecontroller 214 transmits a peer-to-peer request to the alternate devicefor the desired portion of subscribed content which the end user has oneor more subscriptions, and a portion of unsubscribed content. Thecontroller 214 transmits in the same step one or more subscription IDs.In step 318, the alternate device authenticates the communication device200 according to the subscription IDs transmitted in step 316. Thesubscription ID can be any means for the alternate device to identifythat the end user has a subscription to the same service. For example,the subscription ID can be a code only known by subscribers. This ID canbe supplied to the communication device 200 by the content source oncethe end user has subscribed to the service.

Upon a valid authentication, the controller 214 proceeds to step 320 andreceives the unsubscribed content along with a security policy attachedto the subscribed content. The security policy can be, for example, aDRM policy to prevent copying or forwarding of the content, and to limitthe time of use of said content. In step 322, the controller 214presents by way of the UI 204 the unsubscribed content, and thesubscribed content according to the security policy. The presentation ofthe content can be visual and/or audible depending on the content type.

When the controller 214 determines in step 324 that the subscribedcontent requires payment, it proceeds to steps 326-330 to complete thepayment transaction. Otherwise, the controller 214 proceeds to step 301to check for availability of the communication system 102. Step 324 canbe the result of, for example, the DRM policy indicating that payment isdue in order to enable processing of the content as desired by the enduser. Once this determination is made, the controller 214 can beprogrammed to transmit in step 326 a message to the content source byway of the communication system 102 (once it becomes available)identifying the content that was downloaded. In step 328 the controller214 can receive a request for payment from the content sourcecorresponding to the downloaded content. In step 330, the controller 214can transmit an electronic payment to the content source authorizing itto charge the requested amount. This step can be a payment process suchas by way of a credit card profile, or other electronic payment meanssuch as PayPal™. Steps 324-330 are obviously not required for subscribedcontent that is free payment.

Method 300 can be modified or supplemented in several ways withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the claims described below. Forinstance, method 300 can be modified so that subscribed content can beencrypted with keys only known to subscribers. Under this embodiment,encrypted subscriber content can be retrieved from any communicationdevice by anyone whether or not the person retrieving the content is asubscriber. However, only subscribers will have the appropriatedecryption keys to experience the content. Non-subscribers can acquirethe encryption key(s) by paying a subscription and/or becoming membersof the service. It should also be noted that method 300 can be appliedto any of the alternate communication devices 104-112 of FIG. 1.Accordingly, each of these devices 103-112 can request for peer-to-peerexchange of subscribed and unsubscribed content (as described above)from each other under any circumstances including when the communicationsystem 102 is out of the communication range of these devices.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system 400 within which a set of instructions, when executed,may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed above. In some embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected(e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networked deployment,the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client usermachine in server-client user network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine maycomprise a server computer, a client user computer, a personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a controlsystem, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable ofexecuting a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine. It will be understood that a deviceof the present disclosure includes broadly any electronic device thatprovides voice, video or data communication. Further, while a singlemachine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 400 may include a processor 402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a mainmemory 404 and a static memory 406, which communicate with each othervia a bus 408. The computer system 400 may further include a videodisplay unit 410 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system400 may include an input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 414 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 416, a signal generationdevice 418 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a network interfacedevice 420.

The disk drive unit 416 may include a machine-readable medium 422 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 424)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated above. The instructions 424may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 404, the static memory 406, and/or within the processor 402during execution thereof by the computer system 400. The main memory 404and the processor 402 also may constitute machine-readable media.Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatusand systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety ofelectronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions intwo or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices withrelated control and data signals communicated between and through themodules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit.Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 424, or that which receives and executes instructions 424from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 426 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 426 using the instructions 424. Theinstructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over a network426 via the network interface device 420.

While the machine-readable medium 422 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure.

The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memorycard or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile)memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile)memories; magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape; andcarrier wave signals such as a signal embodying computer instructions ina transmission medium; and/or a digital file attachment to e-mail orother self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one ormore of a machine-readable medium or a distribution medium, as listedherein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, inwhich the software implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quicklyascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted withthe understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit thescope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it can be seen that various features are grouped togetherin a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed embodiments require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of asingle disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separately claimed subject matter.

1. A computer-readable storage medium in a first communication device,comprising computer instructions for: if an alternate content source isout of range, scanning for a second communication device; detecting thesecond communication device with subscribed content acquired from thealternate content source; transmitting to the second communicationdevice a peer-to-peer request for a portion of the subscribed contentaccording to one or more subscriptions of the first communicationdevice; and receiving from the second communication device the portionof the subscribed content.
 2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprisingcomputer instructions for: detecting one or more subscriptionscorresponding to the subscribed content; comparing the one or moresubscriptions of the second communication device to the one or moresubscriptions of the first communication device; and transmitting therequest in response to a match in subscriptions.
 3. The storage mediumof claim 1, comprising computer instructions for selecting the portionof subscribed content according to unavailable content in the firstcommunication device.
 4. The storage medium of claim 1, comprisingcomputer instructions for: identifying unavailable content according toa comparison of the subscribed content to content found in the firstcommunication device; and selecting the portion of the subscribedcontent according to a comparison of the unavailable content and one ormore preferences.
 5. The storage medium of claim 4, comprising computerinstructions for establishing the one or more preferences according toat least one among one or more content types, one or more contentpreferences, newness of the content, storage and processing capacity ofthe first communication device, and time to retrieve content from thesecond communication device.
 6. The storage medium of claim 1,comprising computer instructions for transmitting a subscriptionidentity to the second communication device to authenticate the firstcommunication device, thereby enabling transmission of the portion ofthe subscribed content.
 7. The storage medium of claim 1, comprisingcomputer instructions for: receiving a security policy associated withthe portion of the subscribed content; and processing the portion of thesubscribed content according to the security policy.
 8. A communicationdevice, comprising: a transceiver for exchanging messages with alternatecommunication devices; and a controller for managing operations of thetransceiver, programmed to: scan for an alternate communication device;detect the alternate communication device; request from the alternatecommunication device a log of subscribed content acquired by thealternate communication device from an alternate source; identify fromthe log a desired portion of the subscribed content; transmit to thealternate communication device a peer-to-peer request for the desiredportion of the subscribed content according to one or more availablesubscriptions; and receive from the alternate communication device thedesired portion of the subscribed content.
 9. The communication deviceof claim 8, wherein the controller is programmed to: detect one or moresubscriptions corresponding to the subscribed content; compare the oneor more subscriptions of the alternate communication device to the oneor more subscriptions of the communication device; and transmit to thealternate communication device the one or more subscriptions that matchthe desired portion of the subscribed content.
 10. The communicationdevice of claim 8, wherein the controller is programmed to: request alog of unsubscribed content from the alternate communication device;identify a desirable portion of the unsubscribed content; transmit arequest for the desirable portion of the unsubscribed content; andreceive from the alternate communication device the desired portion ofthe unsubscribed content.
 11. The communication device of claim 8,wherein the controller is programmed to: transmit a message to a contentsource identifying the desired portion of the subscribed contentreceived from the alternate device; receive a request for payment fromthe content source; and transmit a payment corresponding to the request.12. The communication device of claim 8, wherein the controller isprogrammed to transmit a subscription identity to the alternatecommunication device to authenticate the communication device, therebyenabling transmission of the portion of the subscribed content.
 13. Thecommunication device of claim 8, wherein the desired portion of thesubscribed content received from the alternate communication device isencrypted, and wherein the controller is programmed to decrypt thecontent according to at least one decryption key associated with atleast one of the available subscriptions.
 14. The communication deviceof claim 13, comprising a user interface (UI), wherein the controller isprogrammed to present at the UI the desired portion of the subscribedcontent according to the security policy.
 15. A method in acommunication device, comprising: scanning for alternate devices withsubscribed content acquired from an alternate content source; detectingan alternate device; identifying a portion of subscribed content in thealternate device; submitting a request for the portion of subscribedcontent with an associated one or more subscriptions; and receiving theportion of the subscribed content from the alternate device.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, comprising the steps of: requesting a log ofsubscribed content from the alternate device; comparing the log of thealternate device to a log of content in the communication device; andidentifying the portion of the subscribed content according to thecomparison of logs.
 17. The method of claim 15, comprising the steps of:detecting in the alternate device one or more subscriptionscorresponding to the subscribed content; compare the one or moresubscriptions of the alternate device to the one or more subscriptionsof the communication device; and transmit to the alternate device theone or more subscriptions that match the portion of the subscribedcontent.
 18. The method of claim 15, comprising the step of selectingthe portion of subscribed content according to unavailable content inthe communication device.
 19. The method of claim 15, comprising thesteps of: identifying unavailable content according to a comparison ofthe subscribed content to content available in the communication device;and selecting the portion of the subscribed content according to acomparison of the unavailable content and at least one among one or morecontent types, one or more content preferences, newness of the content,storage and processing capacity of the first communication device, andtime to retrieve content from the second communication device.
 20. Themethod of claim 15, comprising the step of transmitting a subscriptionidentity to the alternate device to enable transmission of the portionof the subscribed content.